The SPRINGS Observer's​

MIAMI SPRINGS BLOG

AN OCCASIONAL ONLINE REVIEW of Miami Springs politics & policy

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The winner of Seat 3 will be a "freshman" Councilwoman, as first-time candidates Kathie A. Marquez and Mara Zapata bid for election. Let's take a look at the campaign documents.

Kathie A. MarquezMs. Marquez reports $1,500 raised, including $200 from herself and $300 from Urbanworks, which is her spouse Mr. Martin L. Marquez's firm. Minor irregularity, Ms. Marquez neglected to sign her "G1" and "G2" reports (pages 4 and 7), and reminiscent of husband Martin's "G1" report, there is $100 styled as a "loan" on page 7, but the itemized list on page 8 reflects a cash contribution. The striking similarity between the reports (down to some of the errors) does little to dispel the perception that husband and wife will be unable to work independently as simultaneous members of the Miami Springs City Council.

Mara ZapataMs. Zapata reports $7210.17 raised, including loans of $1,340 to herself. Full disclosure: I wrote her campaign a check for $250...it's in the report. Sue me. I also see where she received a $1,000 contribution from the "Miami Realtors PAC" as did Ms. Mitchell in Seat 2. As I mentioned in the Seat 2 post, this is not a "big money" PAC, and the way you know this is that their two largest contributors each gave $1,000, and they have (according to their report) more than 14,500 individual contributions under $100 each...including a $20 contribution in January 2017 from Constantino Hernandez.Turning to the qualifying documents, she stands in 2nd place in terms of "Former Council" signatures on her petition with three: Hon, George Lob, Michael Windrem and Jennifer Ator. Again, in the spirit of disclosure, I signed her petition too, but whatever. I'm less interested in appearing "fair" and more concerned with being truthful and transparent. If something looks bad, attempting to cover it up only amplifies it. In that vein, if (when) I blow it and get something wrong here, I will do my very best to make it right.

Turning to the qualifying documents, while Mr. and Ms. Marquez shared the roles of Campaign Treasurer, each serving the other's campaign - it appears that the canvassing for petition signatures was all on Ms. Marquez, who circulated the petitions for both.

I welcome all reader feedback (even if it's not a love letter) - but if you're going to write, please sign your name. The page for cowardly yahoos who won't stand behind their words is here.

​Finally, I would like to reiterate here that my observations with respect to the candidates' submissions are merely that. My observations. Further, to remind the reader that appending meaning to "who signed what" is not necessarily the best proxy for determining the relative merit or value of a candidate.

Just because you do not take an interest in politics, does not mean that politics won't take an interest in you.

- Source unverified, but attributed *all over the internet* to the Greek philosopher Pericles...which merely underscores the hazards of copying someone else's research instead of looking it up for yourself.